


didn't even notice (that it was love all along)

by chilibabie07



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Boys In Love, Domestic Fluff, Familiar Bucky Barnes, Familiar Sam Wilson, Fluff, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Witch Steve Rogers, Witches and Familiars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26407438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chilibabie07/pseuds/chilibabie07
Summary: Steve is a witch and, as his last task needed for graduation, summons his familiar. Or... familiars. It only gets better from there.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Comments: 15
Kudos: 79
Collections: Marvel Trumps Hate 2019





	didn't even notice (that it was love all along)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZepysGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZepysGirl/gifts).



> My second fill for the MTH 2019! I had a lot of fun with this one, this was my first time writing a fic with a fantasy setting. 
> 
> Thank you to my winner for bidding on me and being endlessly patient with me, I really appreciate it.
> 
> Thank you to [jas](https://twitter.com/dot_astralis?s=09) for betaing and [bangyababy](https://twitter.com/bangyababy?s=09) for sensitivity reading this.
> 
> I've read this ten times in the past 2 days, so if I missed any mistakes.... please ignore them for the sake of my sanity. (I'm kidding, please tell me and I'll edit them out xD)

Steve stands in the middle of the schoolyard, hands still raised from performing the spell to summon his familiar. Everyone around him stands in shock, looking at what is emerging in front of Steve.

Normally, a witch would have exactly one familiar, and it was summoned as the last task that needed to be completed in order for the witch to graduate. There were rarely any complications. The history books listed only two mishappenings: One was in 1308, when Thor Odinson, upon summoning his familiar, accidentally turned his adopted brother, Loki, into a snake and bound him to himself, thus being the first person to create a familiar and not simply summon one. The other incident is dated March 16th, 1765 precisely shortly after three in the afternoon. It involved the witch Tony merging his summoned familiar, a bear, with his best friend, Bruce, who was attending the ceremony. When the familiar’s power was needed, Bruce would turn into what Tony lovingly named the Hulk; if his power wasn’t needed, Bruce would stay in human form. To this day, June 17th, 2018, nobody was able to find any good explanation for either of those incidents.

Steve guesses, in a blink of a moment, that maybe nobody would ever find an explanation for what he just managed to do either. Standing in front of him isn't just one familiar: there are two. A white cat is eyeing him suspiciously, tail twitching back and forth. Besides the cat sits a bird, a falcon to be precise. Its wings are folded neatly on its back, head held high, bright yellow eyes trained on Steve. 

“Uh…” Steve finally says, breaking the silence that had taken over the schoolyard. Not his brightest moment, but that’s hardly important right now. 

The cat meows and slowly struts towards Steve. It can only be described as a strut, and Steve half thinks about taking a step back for each step the cat takes towards him. Because it’s strutting. The cat is strutting. Steve never thought cats could strut. It’s scary. But also it’s just a cat, so what could happen?

While Steve is keeping his eyes on the cat, the falcon spreads its wings and lifts up from the ground, circling the schoolyard a few times. Some students and professors have to duck so they wouldn’t get hit by what looks to be a very pointy and sharp beak. After doing two more circles, the falcon changes directions towards the middle of the yard where Steve stands, the cat now in front of his feet, looking up at the witch. It lands on Steve’s shoulder and ruffles its feathers before folding its wings to its back and staring at the cat. 

Steve visibly winces when the falcon’s claws dig painfully into his right shoulder.

“Uhhh…” Steve says again, and this time he does take a step back from the cat, who has begun to toy with his shoelaces. Unfortunately, he can’t take a step back from the falcon, who is literally piercing his shirt with its talons.

Maybe he should ask for help. There must be a logical explanation for this. He can’t have two familiars. He looks down, squeaks, and takes another step back. The cat has followed and is once again toying with his shoelaces. This can’t be happening. This must be a dream.

Carefully, Steve turns around, not wanting to give the falcon on his shoulder any reason to dig its claws in harder than necessary. He now faces the group of people behind him, students like him, waiting for their turn to summon their familiar, and professors of Shield Academy, overseeing the entire process. He looks for one professor in particular.

“Uh, Professor Fury?” Steve asks and hates how shaky his voice sounds. He is a grown man, 23 years old, he is a witch for gods’ sake—a cat and a falcon shouldn’t make him this nervous. But here he is, nervous as fuck. 

“Can you— could you… A little help please?” Steve says, and this time focuses on speaking clearly and non-shaky. It works. Nearly.

“I believe this situation is beyond help, Mr. Rogers,” Fury says, and fixes his one eye on the cat. If Steve had to guess he'd say his professor was trying to intimidate the cat by staring at it, unblinking. The cat isn’t bothered and continues to tug on Steve's shoelaces.

“But...what?” Steve clearly is at a loss of words. He blames it on the very possible fact that he has two familiars. 

“I believe you now have two familiars, Mr. Rogers. Congratulations,” Professor Fury says drily. “Please go to the Office for Familiars immediately to register them.”

“Okay…” Steve says. He hasn’t finished processing everything that just happened, and now he is supposed to take care of the paperwork? Now? His brain isn't fully online, this isn’t going to go well. 

“Well, then.… please follow me?” Steve tells his familiars. Although it sounds more like asking. The falcon just shakes out its wings and then sits still again. Steve hopes it won't just fly away. The cat meows and climbs onto his shoe. Yes, it climbs. It is a very small cat, more like a kitten and not a cat. And apparently it wants to be carried. Steve doesn't know how to bend down to pick it up with a falcon sitting on his shoulder. 

The cat seems to find a solution to the problem and begins the climb up Steve’s jean-clad leg. Its claws are maybe not as big as the ones of the falcon but definitely as sharp as them. Steve tries not to wince out loud. The cat reaches his hip and meows again. Does it want to be picked up? Steve doesn’t know, but since there is only one way to find out, he carefully extends a hand towards the cat. How does he even pick it up? He doesn’t want to hurt it. So he quickly grabs it by the scruff and places it in his other hand. The cat is small enough to fit into one hand, even if barely so. Steve hopes he won’t accidentally trip over it, later, when they’re in his apartment.

He walks off the schoolyard, ignoring the stares and whispers that follow him, completely focused on the small ball of fluff in one hand and the falcon with its sharp claws and beak on his shoulder. Steve walks the short distance to the O.F.F.; it’s too short to take a cab. 

Upon arriving at the building, the falcon tightens his hold on Steve’s shoulders. “Ouch,” Steve says in regards to that but it seems as if the falcon doesn’t hear him or he simply doesn’t care. Steve looks around to check for any potential danger that might’ve led the falcon to tighten his grip but can’t seem to find any. Maybe it’s what falcons do. Steve doesn’t know, Steve’s never seen a falcon or had one park its butt on his shoulder. Do falcons even have butts? Steve puts a trip to the library to check out some books on bird physiology on his mental to-do list. 

He enters the building and steps up to the check-in counter. Behind it sits an elderly woman who looks up at the sound of the door closing.

“Hi, I would like to, uh… register my two familiars, please,” Steve says. The woman raises an eyebrow.

“Two?” she asks and lowers her glasses to stare at the falcon and the kitten in his hand over the edge of her glasses. 

“Uh, yes.”

“Hm.” She sorts through a big folder and takes out two forms. She places them on the counter.

“Fill these out and sign them, then bring them back,” she instructs him and focuses her attention back on whatever she was doing before he walked in.

Steve goes over to a small round table, placing the papers on it and grabs a pencil from the pencil holder, and begins filling out the first form. 

Species and appearance are easy, but he struggles with the rest, which is more personal info about the familiars.

He walks back over to the counter and clears his throat to get the woman’s attention. “What do I do if I can’t fill everything out now?”

She looks at him as if he is growing horns out of his head. “You take them home and bring them back once you’ve filled them out completely.”

“Oh,” Steve says. “Okay then, I’ll…do that.”

He brings the pencil back to the table and then grabs the forms with one hand, the other still holding on to the small kitten. 

While walking to his apartment from the Office he thinks about what is going to happen next. Once they’ve entered his apartment, the familiars are going to turn, and he’s going to get to know them, and they him, but after that? Never has anyone had two familiars, so he has no clue. 

He could call Peggy, ask her what she did with her familiar, Angie, after. Peggy graduated a year before him, so she knows a bit more about what to expect. He should give her a call, later.

Turning onto the street where he lives, he starts getting more and more nervous with each step. What if he doesn’t get along with his familiars? What if they don’t get along? What if this has been all a big misunderstanding and they’re not actually both his familiars? Questions after question run a marathon through his head, from one side to the other and back again. Oh gods, what if they don’t turn?

“Keep it together,” he mumbles to himself, which leads to a passer-by throwing a weird glance at him. Steve smiles in return.

Finally, he stands before his apartment complex. He carefully takes the keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door. He passes by the mail boxes, deciding to check it later.

He nearly runs up the stairs to his apartment but manages to stop himself, instead lightly jogging.

He unlocks the door and steps inside. In the hallway, he toes off his boots and walks into the living room. 

The falcon flutters from his shoulder and perches atop the back of the couch. The kitten meows and he lowers his hand to the ground, where it hops down and struts off towards the armchair in the corner. After a few failed attempts it manages to climb on and starts washing itself.

“Okay,” Steve says and looks from one familiar to the other. Neither seem like they’re about to change and that worries him. “Could you please change?”

The kitten stops cleaning its fur for a moment, staring at Steve, before meowing again and resuming its cleaning. The falcon doesn’t move. 

“Uh,” Steve says. “Please change?”

Nothing happens.

“I don’t know, is there a phrase that I have to say? Do I have to do something?” he asks the room, but the room doesn’t answer.

He decides to just call Peggy now, maybe ask her to come over and see if she can help. 

Right as he has turned his back to the two familiars in his living room, though, he hears two quiet whooshing sounds in quick succession. He stops walking towards his phone, but doesn’t turn around yet.

“Gods, it's you!” someone says in what Steve would only describe as an accusing tone. What?

“What are you doing here?” another voice asks, this one accusing, too. 

Steve decides to turn around now and nothing in his long years at the College could have prepared him for this sight. 

Where the falcon once was perched atop the back of the couch sits now a very much naked, man with dark skin, short hair and a short beard. He’s standing behind the couch and Steve is now grateful that when he bought the couch the back of it was very high.

The man is staring at the armchair. Steve turns and promptly averts his eyes because the man in the armchair is definitely not hiding anything at all. Nothing. He is sprawled in the chair with his back against one armrest, one leg thrown over the other armrest, the other leg stretched out on the floor. He’s staring back at the man behind the couch.

“Uhm,” Steve says. Today really isn't his eloquent day. “I’ll… get you some clothes?”

Both men turn their heads to him, as if they’ve just noticed him. 

“That’d be great, thanks,” the man behind the couch says. “I’m Sam by the way.”

“I’m Steve,” Steve says, and tries not to ogle Sam’s chest. Or the other man’s… everything. Gods, Peggy was right when she described him as a disaster gay once. 

The man in the chair just waves his hand and spreads his legs even wider. Steve blushes and practically runs into his bedroom to get clothes for the familiars. His familiars. Oh gods. 

When he steps back into the living room he definitely doesn't look at the two naked men, instead staring out of the window. He throws the clothes in their direction and waits until the rustling of clothes stops to see if they are dressed.

He turns back to them. “So… I guess you two know each other?” he asks. 

Sam just huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. 

The familiar in the armchair smirks. “Back in college we were roommates,” he says and throws Sam a suggestive glance. “And fuckbuddies.”

“Oh,” Steve faintly says. 

“I’m Bucky by the way,” Bucky says, still staring at Sam.

“Okay,” Steve says. He should definitely call Peggy because he hasn’t got a fucking clue as to how to proceed. 

It’s quiet in his apartment for a while, just the sound of the three of them breathing the only noise. Until Steve decides to break the silence, wanting to learn a bit more about his familiars.

“So… fuckbuddies, huh?” he says and then mentally slaps himself. That's the thing he starts with? Really?

“Ex-fuckbuddies,” Sam corrects. Steve looks at him and notices that he has moved to sit on the couch. Steve doesn’t remember seeing him moving. 

Bucky scoffs. “Because of you.”

“Uh…” Steve says. The words really have left him today.

“Because of me?” Sam asks incredulously. “You wanted to stop!”

Bucky averts his eyes and stares at the floor, jaw set in a tight line. 

“Uhm,” Steve manages to get out. He’s fucking terrified that this won’t work out and he knows from stories what happens to familiars who have to leave their witch. They get their powers and with that their ability to shift between animal and human form taken away with a painful method. He doesn’t know the exact details, but he knows that usually familiars don’t live for long after going through that.

“I asked you over and over again, what your reason was, but you never answered me! You just ignored me, moved dorms, too!” Sam says, eyes shooting daggers at Bucky.

Bucky shakes his head and scoffs. 

“See? You’re doing it again,” Sam says and laughs drily.

Steve just stands there, eyes flying back and forth between Sam and Bucky. He thought summoning two familiars was the only weird thing happening today, but he couldn’t have ever anticipated that they were fuckbuddies, let alone know each other. He really hopes that there is a way that all of them will get along and be able to work together, and he would do anything to make that happen. 

He moves to the couch and sits down at the end. He knows that he is a very touchy-feely person but he keeps his distance to Sam in case he isn’t comfortable with touch yet. 

“Can I help?” Steve asks timidly and as soon as the question passes his lips he freezes, because he doesn’t actually know what he could help with, let alone how. 

“Can you make Bucky understand that his actions hurt me? Because as you can see, whenever I try to talk to him about the issue he just shuts down and ignores me,” Sam says and Steve would go as far as describing his tone as hopeful. 

Steve shoots him an encouraging smile before turning his attention to Bucky, who still sullenly lounges in the armchair. 

“I won’t force you to talk about what happened, but I think it would be really helpful, not only to Sam, but also to us. We’re gonna be together from now on, we’ll be seeing each other every day and I think that any issues that can be solved now won’t make our relationship and work later harder than necessary,” Steve launches into a diplomatic approach. He’s always been good with helping two people talk about any issues between them. He hopes that the approach will work on Bucky and Sam, too. Especially on Bucky, since Sam seems willing to talk about whatever happened.

Bucky huffs again, but otherwise doesn’t speak. 

“Take your time,” Steve gently says. “Can I get either of you something to drink or eat in the meantime?”

Bucky ignores him, but Sam nods gratefully. “A glass of water would be great, thanks.”

“On it,” Steve says and gets up to walk into the kitchen. He hopes he won’t return to the living room on fire.

In the kitchen he takes a moment to just stand there and breathe, trying to process everything that happened today. First the summoning ceremony, two familiars instead of one turning up, then the walk home. He hated that everyone was openly staring at them, he felt like an attraction at the circus. Surely seeing a witch with two familiars can’t be the strangest thing people have seen, but then again, it’s something that has never happened before so, who knows?

He grabs a glass from the cupboard and fills it with water.

Walking back into the living room, it doesn’t seem like anything has changed. It also doesn’t seem like they talked, but hey. At least his living room isn’t on fire. Steve gladly takes that small victory.

He places the glass in front of Sam on the coffee table and sits back down in his spot at the other end of the couch. Sam immediately grabs the glass and drains it in one big gulp. Steve remembers having learned that turning from animal form into human form and back can drain a familiar’s body, and they need to hydrate after.

He throws a worrying glance at Bucky. But before he can get up and get Bucky a glass, too, he is interrupted by Bucky talking.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” he says quietly, still not looking up. 

“You did, though,” Sam says just as quietly, the heat from earlier gone from his voice.

“I never intended to,” Bucky repeats and finally looks up at Sam. Steve can see the regret in his eyes and suddenly he wants nothing more than to hug them both. 

“Then why did you do it?” Sam asks, staring back at Bucky. There is no anger in his eyes, only curiosity and a tiny bit of pain still.

“The chances of us seeing each other after we’ve been summoned by a witch were basically non-existent. And I was scared one of us would develop feelings, so I ended it,” Bucky explains and shrugs.

Sam makes a non-committal noise. “Is that why you kept ignoring me?”

Bucky shakes his head. “No.”

“Then why?”

Steve takes one look at Bucky’s eyes and can guess the answer. He sees pain and regret, but also longing. 

“Because I did what I wanted to prevent. I caught feelings. I thought, if I ignored you they would go away.”

“Oh,” Sam says. And then stays silent.

Bucky fidgets in his seat, wraps his arms around himself and Steve just knows that Bucky desperately wants a hug right now. 

He turns his body a bit towards Bucky and reaches out with one hand. “Do you want a hug?”

Bucky looks at him, his eyes glittering with unshed tears. It breaks Steve’s heart. 

Bucky nods and before Steve can react he’s got a lapful of Bucky. It seems that even in human form Bucky has kitten-like tendencies.

Steve hesitates for only a moment before wrapping both arms around Bucky’s shoulders, holding him tight. Bucky has his head tucked away in Steve's neck, shaky breaths hitting the skin.

Looking over to where Sam sits, Steve lifts one arm away from Bucky and reaches out to Sam. He hesitates for a few seconds before scooting across the couch, attaching himself to Steve’s right side. Steve pulls Sam close, arm around his shoulders, and Sam wraps one arm around Steve, the other carefully taking a hold of one of Bucky’s. Bucky wraps his fingers around Sam’s hand and holds on tight. 

“It’s okay,” Sam soothingly whispers.

“I’m sorry,” Bucky whispers back. 

Sam just holds onto his hand tighter.

****

Steve must’ve fallen asleep soon after because when he wakes up it’s dark, only the light from the streetlamp illuminating the living room. Neither Sam nor Bucky are here, making Steve bolt up from where he was slouched on the couch. He’s about to frantically run through his apartment and then call Peggy, when he notices light and quiet voices coming from the kitchen. 

He stretches first, rotates his head from one side to the other, trying to relax the cramped muscles. He should know that napping on the couch isn’t a good idea, hasn’t been since he was 15.

He pads into the kitchen and only stubs his toe twice, somewhere on the coffee table and armchair, probably. It’s dark. His eyesight in the dark is basically non-existent. 

In the kitchen, Bucky and Sam stand at the counter, currently battling over who’s going to dice the carrots. What?

“Uhh…” Steve says. Today really isn’t his day. 

Sam notices him first. “We’re making dinner,” he says, throwing a quick glance at Steve before looking back down to where he is dicing the carrots.

Bucky is now a few feet away, pouting as he peels potatoes. 

“What?” Steve says. He desperately wishes for his brain to come back online.

“Food,” Bucky says, still pouting and peeling potatoes. 

“Okay…” Steve says. “Can I help with anything?”

“Nope,” Sam says. “We figured you didn’t sign up for two familiars, especially for two with a history, so we wanted to do something for you?” 

“That’s nice, thanks,” Steve answers. “But seriously, you don’t have to.”

“Well now we already started,” Bucky says, not looking up. 

Steve nods, more to himself and goes to grab a glass. At the sink he fills it with water and slowly sips it, while watching his two familiars throw together what looks like a veggie pan. 

They don’t talk while they cook, everyone somewhere in their own heads.

Steve gets the guest rooms ready for them, while Sam and Bucky watch the food. He takes the softest sheets and blankets from the linen closet in the hallway and takes them to the two small bedrooms at the end of the hallway. He dumps a few sheets and blankets on each bed, straightening it out a bit and making it look comfortable before moving back to the kitchen. 

The veggie pan is happily sizzling away on the stove top, while Sam and Bucky sit at the breakfast bar, quietly conversing about something Steve can’t hear. They look up when he enters the room and smile at him. 

“Food’s nearly done,” Bucky says with a glance back to the stove. 

Steve joins them at the breakfast bar, sitting down opposite them on one of the high chairs. “I guess I should probably tell you what kind of witch I am?” he says.

Sam and Bucky look at him with curiosity in their eyes, and nod. 

“I’m a gaeic witch. I am called to a site where a natural disaster happened or is happening. I take care of preventing things from doing too much damage, I save people who are stuck under rubble for example. Basically, every time there is a natural disaster happening somewhere I’m called in,” he explains. 

“Oh yeah, we learned a bit about that type of witch in college,” Bucky says, and Sam nods in agreement.

“I always thought gaeic witches were the coolest,” Sam says. “They go up against nature itself, which is the most powerful entity ever. That’s awesome.”

Steve hums in agreement. “Maybe that’s why I have two familiars and not just one. Because nature is powerful and in order to go against it, I would need at least as much magical power, too,” he muses.

Sam nods in agreement while Bucky gets up to check on the veggie pan. “Dinner is ready,” he announces.

Steve flicks his finger and three plates plus cutlery come floating from their places in the kitchen to the breakfast bar and settle down with a minor clack. Bucky brings over the pan and sets it on top of a hot pad, and places the spatula propped up against the side of the pan.

Steve takes it and places a good portion on each plate. The three of them immediately dig in, the ceremony must’ve taken lots of energy from them all. 

Dinner is spent in silence, only the occasional sound of a knife or fork hitting or scraping the plate disturbing that. But Steve finds that it’s a comfortable silence, he doesn’t feel the urge to initiate a conversation. He enjoys just sitting here at the table with his two familiars and eating. 

After dinner Steve sends the plates and pan with a wave of his hand to the dishwasher. All three of them are pretty tired so they decide to go to bed and talk about anything else they haven’t covered yet tomorrow.

Steve shows them their rooms and the bathroom, before bidding them a good night and falling into his own big bed after a quick trip to the bathroom. He’s out nearly as soon as his head hits the pillows.

***

The next morning finds them all back in the kitchen, sleepily hanging in various poses over the breakfast bar. 

Steve is filling out the form for the Office for Familiars and once that’s done he quickly walks over to drop it off. Sam and Bucky both decide to stay home and when he comes back he finds them sprawled over the couch and armchair, staring at the TV which plays the latest episode of some horror show.

Over the course of a few weeks, they get called out to a few assignments, preventing a hurricane from destroying a town in south Florida and rescue people buried under snow from an avalanche in Switzerland. 

They grow closer and closer together, something that Steve doesn’t really notice until during one evening, when they each go to bed, Sam leans over to press a quick kiss to his cheek, before mumbling a tired “love you” and going to his room. Steve is still frozen from what just happened when Bucky walks up and does the same before going to bed as well.

Steve sits on the couch for what must be like ten minutes at least, completely at loss from what just happened. He takes a look at the time and decides to call Peggy; it’s only ten pm, she wouldn’t mind.

She answers the phone after the second ring, voice laced with concern considering that Steve is calling during the night. “What is it?” she asks, and sounds as if she’s ready to put on shoes and speed-walk over to his apartment.

“Uhm,” Steve says. “So, I think that maybe…” he trails off.

“Why don’t you just tell me what happened and we go from there, hm?” Peggy says, always knowing exactly how to approach a difficult situation.

So Steve recounts earlier happenings, Sam kissing his cheek and mumbling “love you” and Bucky doing the same. 

Peggy is quiet on the other end for a minute before she sighs. Steve mentally braces himself. That’s her “Steve you absolute dumbass”-sigh. 

“I think it’s pretty obvious what that means, don’t you think?” she finally says.

“It is?” Steve asks in surprise because it clearly isn’t obvious to him.

Peggy sighs again. “Steve. Listen, both Sam and Bucky kissed you on your cheek and told you they love you. Isn’t it obvious that they apparently really like you?”

“Uhm,” Steve says. 

“From what I can see, they both want a relationship with you, Steve,” Peggy says and Steve can basically hear her lift an eyebrow in judgement at him.

“They do?” he asks. “Like, both? In one relationship?”

“Yes, exactly that, Steve. You know that poly relationships aren’t uncommon,” she says. There is a voice in the background, but it’s too quiet for him to understand anything. He assumes it must be Angie, probably asking what’s going on. Peggy explains it to her and Steve squawks in disbelief when she calls him a dumbass.

“What? It’s true,” Peggy only says to that. “Now, you’re going to sleep now, and tomorrow you’re going to talk to Sam and Bucky so all three of you are on the same page as to what this thing between you is, do you hear me?”

Steve nods until he realizes that Peggy can’t see that. “Yeah,” he mumbles out.

“Good,” Peggy answers. “Now sleep, Steve. Good night.” She hangs up, not waiting for a response.

Steve continues to sit in the silence of the living room, before finally getting up to go to his room.

On his way there he passes the other bedrooms and notices light pouring out from under one door. He can hear quiet voices talking, can hear Bucky occasionally giggling, can hear Sam’s quiet laugh. 

It hits him then, all the small things over the past few weeks. The lingering glances between the two of them, how they hugged or cuddled more often than before. And Steve realizes that he never felt like he was in the way, never felt like he was intruding on something he shouldn’t. He realizes that all this time, he always felt comfortable around them, he felt at home. Suddenly his heart is nearly bursting with love he didn’t realize he felt for both familiars. His heart tells him to knock on the door, to walk in and join them, but his brain rationalizes, tells him to go to his own room and get a good night’s sleep, so they can talk tomorrow. 

And so he does, gets ready for bed in the bathroom, puts on his pajamas and slides under the blanket in the bed that suddenly seems to be too big for just him. But if everything goes well tomorrow, then this might be the last time he goes to sleep alone. With that thought in mind he falls into a deep slumber, dreaming of feathery kisses on his skin, of two sets of hands gently petting over his body. 

****

He wakes up to sunlight filtering through the blinds, to smell of still warm chocolate croissants and coffee. He stretches in bed for a moment and then gets up to take a shower and gets dressed. He makes himself promise that this day won’t end until he’s talked to Sam and Bucky and figured out what exactly this thing between the three of them is. 

He shuffles into the kitchen on tired feet clad in fuzzy socks and falls into the empty seat at the breakfast bar. Both Sam and Bucky are already there, more or less awake and, in Sam’s case, yawning into the coffee mug in front of him.

“Morning,” Steve mumbles as he pours his own coffee and adds a tiny amount of sugar.

“Morning,” Sam and Bucky simultaneously answer.

They eat their breakfast in silence, everyone still too tired to string more than a few words together. 

After, Steve shuffles to the couch and sinks down into the cushions. He closes his eyes, intent on taking a small nap before talking to both of the familiars, when a fluffy cloud jumps up into his lap and claws its way up his shirt onto his shoulder. 

He opens his eyes a tiny bit and squints to the right, where Bucky is cuddled into the space where his neck meets his shoulder. He’s in cat form, all tiny and fluffy. He swats at Steve's nose when he catches him staring. Steve just hums amusedly and lifts a hand to gently pet through Bucky’s fur. 

Sam joins them on the couch, too, but in human form. He curls up on his side and uses Steve’s thigh as a pillow. Bucky glances down and climbs down Steve’s shirt, deciding that curling up behind Sam’s head is a better and more comfortable option than Steve’s shoulder. He kneads Steve’s thigh for a moment before lying down and closing his eyes. 

Steve rests one hand on Bucky, occasionally petting through the hair. His other hand is slung over Sam’s waist, fingertips brushing against his stomach over his shirt. 

They all apparently decided that starting into their day with a nap seemed like a good idea.

Steve wakes up before the others and uses the quiet to formulate his words in his head. He wants to talk to Sam and Bucky when they wake up, wants to get it over with as soon as possible. Surprisingly he isn’t really anxious or scared of their reaction. Technically, it’s obvious that both love him and would want a relationship with him, but a tiny part in his brain keeps telling him _what if they don’t and you’ve just been interpreting signals the wrong way_. He tries not to let that get to him, and for the most part it works

When Sam and Bucky wake up, and Bucky has transferred back to a human right there in Steve’s lap, he tells them that he wants to ask them something. Both immediately perk up and sit up straight, noticing that it’s something serious.

“I noticed a few things lately and realized a few others,” Steve starts. Then he stops and thinks. Does he really want to launch into a long speech about what he noticed? It would probably be enough to just tell them that he’s in love with both of them. 

“What did you realize?” Sam quietly asks, after more than a minute of silence from Steve.

Steve clears his throat before he continues. “I realized that I think… no, I _know_ that I am... “ he stops for a moment to look at both of his familiars before directing his eyes down to the floor, “... that I am in love with you. Both of you.”

There, he said it. It’s out now. He doesn’t dare to raise his eyes from where they’re glued to the floor, too scared to see what Sam and Bucky are thinking. 

For a moment there’s only silence, before the sound of someone shuffling over cushions reaches Steve’s ears right before a body crawls into his lap and hugs him. “You absolute dumbass,” Bucky whispers into his shoulder. “We’ve been dropping hints for weeks now.”

Steve wraps one arm around Bucky and tucks the other around Sam’s waist, who’s in the process of tucking himself into Steve’s side. “We really have, you know,” he says. “What finally made you realize?”

“Yesterday evening,” Steve whispers out. “When you both kissed my cheek and said _’love you’_.”

“Yeah, that was kinda our desperate attempt at making you realize that we love you,” Bucky mumbles into the skin of Steve’s neck. “You were kinda oblivious to every other clue we dropped.”

Steve groans. “I feel like a dumbass now,” he says. 

“I mean you kinda are,” Bucky giggles. 

“But you’re our dumbass,” Sam adds and leans up to press a soft kiss to Steve’s lips. It’s over before he can react much and for a moment he just sits there in a daze. Then Bucky squawks and also kisses Steve, before pulling back and leaning over to kiss Sam as well. 

Steve buries his face in Sam’s neck and pulls both tightly into his own body. “I love you both,” he whispers quietly.

“Love you, too,” Sam whispers back, followed by Bucky uttering the same. “How about we now move this to your bed and take another nap there because this couch really isn’t comfortable.”

Steve chuckles lightly. “Yeah let’s do that.”

Once in his room he flops down on the mattress and waits for Sam and Bucky, now in cat-form again, to join him. Then he pulls the covers up over their bodies and makes sure that Bucky isn’t swallowed up by them and can still get out. But he doesn’t need to worry, because Bucky moves onto the pillow Sam and Steve share and curls up between their heads. He pats both their cheeks with a paw before closing his eyes and starting to purr loudly.

Steve really missed this. For a second he wonders how he can miss something he never had but then brushes it off, instead focusing on the purr coming from Bucky’s small fluffy body and Sam’s deep and slow breaths brushing against his neck. 

He never wants to leave this bed, wants to stay here forever, with both familiars, who love him and who he loves right back.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/chilibabie07?s=09) and [Tumblr](https://76reaper-ow.tumblr.com/).


End file.
